Taken in the Cold by Roger Stelljes Blog Tour for Booktoure

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Taken in the Cold by Roger Stelljes Synopsis: "Make sure you wrap up warm for school, honey. A blizzard is on the way." Ten-year-old Teddy rolls his eyes at his mother. But then he hears a bang... By the time police arrive, Teddy's mother is dead. His open school backpack is strewn across the hallway. And Teddy is nowhere to be found.   When gunshots ring out from an exclusive family home on the edge of Northern Pine Lake,  Agent Tori Hunter  races through the gathering snowstorm to discover that  ten-year-old Teddy Marist has disappeared . His mother and her new boyfriend are dead in the family kitchen, breakfast still cooking on the stove. And racing to track down Teddy's father,  Tori finds he is missing too.   Local police are certain this is a simple case of a jealous ex-husband turned violent over his recent divorce. But interviewing everyone she can about Teddy's father, Tori's gut has her questioning if he would really kidnap his own child?  An...
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The Guest by B.A. Paris and Narrated by Emily Joyce

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Title: The Guest
Author: B.A. Paris
Narrator: Emily Joyce
Genre: Mystery
Format: Audiobook
Listening Length: 8 hours and 14 minutes
Date of Publication: February 20, 2024

Description: New York Times bestselling author B. A. Paris captivated psychological thriller fans everywhere with Behind Closed Doors. Now she invites you into another home full of heart-pounding secrets, in The Guest.

Some secrets never leave.

Iris and Gabriel have just arrived home from a make-or-break holiday. But a shock awaits them. One of their closest friends, Laure, is in their house. The atmosphere quickly becomes tense as she oversteps again and again: sleeping in their bed, wearing Iris' clothes, even rearranging the furniture.

Laure has walked out on her husband—and their good friend—Pierre, over his confession of an affair and a secret child. Iris and Gabriel want to be supportive of their friends, but as Laure's mood becomes increasingly unpredictable, her presence takes its toll.

Iris and Gabriel's only respite comes in the form of a couple new to town. But with them comes their gardener, who has a checkered past.

Soon, secrets from all their pasts will unravel, some more dangerous than they could have known.


My Thoughts: I think I've only read one other B.A. Paris book and was not a fan then. I wanted to give another try as I know her books are pretty popular. Sadly, this book was not for me.

The audiobook felt like it dragged on. More then half the audiobook was about Laure and her husbands secret child. It's not until more than half way through that a murder occurs. Even when that happens the story is still quite bland. There's no investigative side to it.

A bulk of the story is done in a conversational style, so it felt like you were just eavesdropping on peoples conversations. I felt like their was not much backstory provided.

I've never quite understood the purpose of an epilogue but they are usually short. The epilogue in this book was so long that it really should have been a chapter in itself. The revelations provided in the epilogue felt unnecessary to me.

The audiobook was narrated by Emily Joyce. She did a good job but I did not feel like it was anything special. Honestly, if it was not for this being an audiobook I'm not sure that I would have even got past the first few chapters. Even with that being said, I had to speed up the listening speed to x1.5 as it was too hard to listen at normal speed.

Rating: 2 out of 5. This book just really missed the mark for me. It was a painfully long drawn out story. There's no climax or action in it to keep your attention drawn to it. The ending felt unnecessary.

Thank you to Macmillian Audio for this audiobook copy as part of their audiobook influencer program. This is my honest opinion.

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